The Knesset Financial Committee agreed today to a request from the Attorney General to withhold from publication some parts of the State Comptroller’s report concerning events in Sinai directly after the Six-Day War. The States Attorney asked that the material be withheld on grounds that its publication could have adverse effect on public opinion and political ramifications.
The report concerns the activities of various civilian firms that contracted with the government to perform certain building, construction, supply and clearing projects. According to the, report, employes of some of these firms “cleaned out” the area of valuable equipment and installations anything that could be disassembled and loaded on a truck.
According to the report, in Abu Zneima, a former Egyptian industrial center and port, property estimated at $9 million simply vanished. In other places such as the manganese quarries at Urn Bugama and the coal pit at Djabel Maareh, equipment worth millions of dollars disappeared.
During the period covered by the report, no control had been established by the Israeli authorities in these places and the Jurisdiction was not yet clear. The property vanished during the several weeks before the matter of jurisdiction was settled.
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